["Don't forget, our family are shinobi!"]
The Konoha ninja watched as the Fourth Hokage bent down, looking gently at his wife and child.
["Back when we argued as a couple, I never won a single time. As a mother, even if you only get a brief chance to meet Naruto in the future, what you can teach him is something I could never compare to, Kushina."]
["This isn't just for you. It's also for Naruto. To willingly give one's life for their son… that's a duty only a father can fulfill!!"]
"Damn it! What were we doing back then?!! Why didn't we go help?!"
"You idiot! We were kids at the time! We weren't even allowed on the battlefield!"
"What about the others? Where were the Sannin and the Third Hokage-sama?!"
Because of the trauma they suffered during the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya and Tsunade rarely returned to the village. Not long after Orochimaru followed Danzō, he was exposed for conducting cruel experiments on Konoha ninja and eventually defected from the village…
"Then… wait! What about the Uchiha?! The Uchiha clan was still around back then, right?! Couldn't they have used the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails?!!"
"!!!"
That question alone was enough to make Sasuke and Obito furious.
Both of them had personally lived through the Nine-Tails incident. They remembered all too clearly how Konoha's upper ranks distrusted the Uchiha and barred them from taking part. Especially Danzō Shimura. His actions were despicable to the extreme, even going so far as to collude with the masked man to wipe out the Uchiha clan.
Just as they were about to snap back, the voice of the Third Hokage from that parallel world rang out.
The old man arrived wielding his staff, already dressed in full shinobi gear. But in order to prevent the Nine-Tails from escaping, Kushina had already used the Adamantine Sealing Chains, completely sealing off the surrounding area.
["Sealed!!"]
The impatient Shinigami thrust its hand through Minato Namikaze, sealing him together with half of the Nine-Tails inside its own body.
The Nine-Tails was, at its core, a mass of chakra. With half of its chakra sealed away by the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, everyone could see its massive body rapidly shrinking.
When the Fourth Hokage placed the infant onto the altar, the Nine-Tails, now less than half its original size, immediately realized what the humans were trying to do.
["Damn it! You're trying to seal me again! And inside a brat like that?!!"]
The Nine-Tails erupted in fury.
Taking advantage of the moment when Kushina Uzumaki could no longer endure it and coughed up blood, and when the Fourth Hokage moved to check on his wife's condition—
["Now!!"]
"Ah—!!!"
"Watch out!"
The Konoha ninja standing all around, though they didn't truly exist in that parallel world, strained with everything they had to warn the Fourth Hokage.
But…
Naruto: "!!!!!"
Gaara, Sasuke, Kawaki…
Everyone who was close to Naruto Uzumaki widened their eyes in shock.
Because of where Naruto was standing, the blood seemed to spray straight across his face and body.
Passing through his very soul, it finally splattered onto the ground.
Naruto's eyes trembled. If not for the rift in space-time making him almost nonexistent, unable to use even the slightest bit of chakra, he might have lost control to the tailed beast's power all over again.
Because the scene before him—
Was the Nine-Tails' enormous claw striking straight toward the infant Naruto Uzumaki.
And to save him, the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki acted on pure instinct, throwing themselves in front of the child and shielding him with their own bodies.
Just like Gaara's Sand Armor, just like Karura protecting him with her own strength even after death.
Although Naruto had lived through the Nine-Tails incident, he had never witnessed this moment.
Now, his mind went completely blank.
He knew that all of this had truly happened in his own world.
"Drip…"
Kushina's and the Fourth Hokage's blood splattered onto Naruto.
The infant, completely unaware of what had happened, continued sleeping soundly under his parents' protection.
["I already said it… this is a father's duty, isn't it…"]
["If that's the case, then as a mother… shouldn't I bear that duty as well? This is the first time I've lost an argument to you. I understand your resolve now…"]
["Thank you, Kushina."]
Naruto stood there in a daze, staring at his parents in the other parallel world, terror filling his eyes as if they might leave him at any moment.
Kawaki shouted toward the unseen will of the world,
"Didn't you save Gaara's mom earlier?! Then why can't we go save the Seventh Hokage-sama's parents?!!! Why is this world so cruel to him… to us?!"
No one answered him.
A deep sorrow surged through everyone's hearts.
They finally understood.
This journey through time and space, like a genjutsu, existed solely to make them witness history with their own eyes. To force them to see the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina…
And to let everyone in Konoha know that Naruto Uzumaki was not a monster, but the biological son of the Fourth Hokage, a child in whom his father placed immense hope, believing he would one day become a hero and save the ninja world.
His birthday was not the day the Nine-Tails killed the Fourth Hokage.
Rather…
It was another way in which the lives of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki continued.
Like many Konoha ninja who were staring intently at the scene, Minato from the Kannabi Bridge Timeline glared with bloodshot eyes, locking onto everything unfolding before him.
["It looks like we can't hold on much longer… is there anything you want to say to Naruto now?"]
Naruto, don't be picky with food. Eat your fill every day and grow up strong.
—The ninja of Konoha and Sunagakure looked at the boy, smaller than most children his age, their throats tightening as if a fishbone were stuck there, choked by the sorrow in the air.
["Remember to take a hot bath every day. Don't stay up late. Make sure you get enough sleep."]
—Right now, Naruto was filthy and torn up from fighting Gaara during the Chūnin Exams, though he had slept well the night before and was full of energy.
And remember to make friends. You don't need many. Just a few companions you can truly trust are enough.
—Sakura had already broken down, sobbing softly.
—Obito and Rin couldn't hold back either, tears dropping one after another onto the ground.
—Young Kakashi and Sasuke clenched their teeth, their expressions dark and frightening.
—Gaara, Kawaki, Shikamaru, and the others who knew Naruto well all stood stiffly, unable to say a single word.
["Mom isn't very good at studying, but you still have to work hard and learn powerful ninjutsu. Everyone has things they're good at and things they're not. Even if you don't learn well, that's okay. Don't hang your head."]
—Iruka's chest hurt so badly it felt like it might tear apart. Again and again, he blamed himself for not helping Naruto study better, for failing to truly understand his pain and support him.
["Respect your teachers and seniors. And most importantly, stay far away from the three ninja taboos. Make sure to save your mission pay properly."]
—Adult Kakashi looked utterly dejected. Naruto had tried so hard to live up to Kushina's words, yet the world kept taking away the people most important to him, again and again, while leaving him behind. To be honest, Kakashi sometimes wondered if the will of this world hated him. Otherwise, why did everyone around him disappear one by one?
["Just move forward at your own pace. What matters most is holding onto your dreams and walking toward them without giving up… always believe in yourself…"]
["I still have so many, so many things I want to tell you… I really wanted to live together with you… Naruto…"]
The parallel world fell deathly silent, everyone trapped in a mournful grief.
Why were they forced to witness all of this, yet unable to do anything?
Suddenly, someone realized something.
Based on everything they had seen, it felt as though some unseen force was deliberately making them reflect. Reflect on how they had treated Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara.
In their eyes, those two had always been monsters.
And now, they were being shown that it had all been nothing but their own prejudice.
["I'm sorry, Minato… I was the only one talking so much…"]
["No, it's fine,"] the Fourth Hokage said. ["Naruto, what I wanted to say is the same as what your nagging mom said…"]
It should have ended there.
But a red-haired girl finally couldn't bear the torment in her heart any longer.
"Karin?!!"
Only when the red-haired girl brushed past Sakura's shoulder and rushed into the other parallel world did Sakura snap back to her senses.
If it was Karin's ability…
Minato Namikaze was just about to carry out the Eight Trigrams Seal when the sudden appearance of the red-haired girl made him freeze.
"Please, bite down!"
Karin thrust her arm toward the two people impaled on the Nine-Tails' claw. Her eyes were timid, yet beneath that fear was a stubborn strength.
"Thank you… but it's useless," Minato said softly, his voice already fading.
Their lives were at their very end. There was no time, no strength left to ask why she had appeared here.
Kushina looked at her in surprise.
"You're also from the Uzumaki clan? If this were earlier, we could've talked properly…" She broke into a cough.
Karin urged them again, her voice trembling but insistent.
The others had no idea what the red-haired girl was trying to do.
But the moment Karin rushed forward, Sakura moved without hesitation.
Every time they crossed into another parallel world, wasn't it to resolve that world's tragedy? Just like that person named Kawaki said. Then why couldn't they do it this time?!
She gathered all the chakra in her body and slammed her fist into the claw behind the Fourth Hokage's back.
Boom!
The sound was deafening, but it didn't shake the Nine-Tails in the slightest.
How many people in this world could truly overpower the Nine-Tails?
Especially when the only ones who could still move were medical-nin.
It wasn't that Tsunade didn't want to help. Her hemophobia made it impossible.
Despair.
Behind Naruto Uzumaki stood his infant self from another parallel world. In front of him were the blood-soaked claws of the Nine-Tails, and Kushina Uzumaki and the Fourth Hokage, pierced straight through.
His eyes were hollow. He couldn't even understand why he was standing here, forced to watch all of this happen.
[Mission reward, incoming.]
Minato Namikaze, overwhelmed by the same grief, heard that voice again. A voice that sounded exactly like his own.
Mission reward?!
Boom—
A cloud of smoke suddenly erupted before everyone's eyes. A human silhouette could be seen inside.
"!!!!"
"Who is that?!"
As the smoke cleared, they—and the dying couple—finally saw the newcomer's face.
A boy around sixteen or seventeen years old stood there, wearing a tattered orange tracksuit. It was obvious he had just come out of a fierce battle. Half of the right sleeve was gone, the hem was torn to shreds, and the zipper hung open, revealing the mesh shirt most ninja wore underneath.
He had short blond hair and six whisker-like marks on his cheeks.
His sudden appearance stunned everyone into silence.
Twelve-year-old Naruto stared at him, completely dumbfounded.
Minato from the Kannabi Bridge Timeline was just as shaken.
Kushina recognized him at a glance.
"Naruto?!!"
The Fourth Hokage murmured, "Is… is this a space-time ninjutsu?"
"If I hadn't sensed space-time chakra, I might've thought this was a beautiful genjutsu," he said with a weak smile, coughing up blood. "Looks like heaven really did hear your wish, Kushina."
Naruto, who had crossed over from the Fourth Shinobi World War, was utterly confused by the scene in front of him.
"Dad?! Mom?!! Kurama?!!"
The moment he saw their injuries, he didn't hesitate. He immediately drew on the chakra of the half of the Nine-Tails sealed within him, entering Six Paths Sage Mode Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and cut through the claws piercing their bodies in a single strike.
The golden-clad youth left everyone stunned once again.
Most of the ninja from Konohagakure and Sunagakure had never seen twelve-year-old Naruto break through limits with an S-rank mission and fight Gaara and Shukaku using the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Now they were watching a seventeen-year-old Naruto casually activate Six Paths Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
Shock didn't even begin to describe what they were feeling.
A black-and-brown Six Paths outfit, overlaid with a short cloak of flowing golden chakra. His hair, his Konoha forehead protector, even his face had turned gold. The whisker marks on his cheeks had transformed into distinct, arcane patterns.
Sasuke, Sakura, Obito, young Kakashi and Rin, along with their older counterparts Kakashi and Minato from the Kannabi Bridge Timeline, all felt their hearts tighten.
That person was—
The future Naruto?!!
The newly arrived Naruto was completely thrown off by the situation.
Twelve-year-old Sakura. His parents on the brink of death. Kurama, still as short-tempered as ever, his gaze unchanged.
His first instinct was to save his mom and dad. Maybe trim Kurama's claws while he was at it.
But less than a minute later, something felt terribly wrong.
He had just said goodbye to his father, who was about to pass on, crying his heart out.
"W-what is going on?! How can this be?!!" he shouted.
He had only just parted from his dad after the Fourth Shinobi World War. His seventeenth birthday hadn't even passed ten minutes ago. What kind of twisted gift was this from some higher power?!
Don't tell me he and Sasuke were caught in Infinite Tsukuyomi too?!
Then who was supposed to save the world?!